Friday, March 28, 2008

Atanua

Atanua seems to be getting a lot of press as of late. It's a really interesting circuit simulator that includes a lot of TTL/CMOS building blocks, TTL ICs, LEDs, etc.

The folks over at electro-music who build music-making circuits from logic devices have found it quite useful. I've played with it for a bit, including modeling a johnson ring counter.

Books by Forrest Mims

If you have the remotest interest in music electronics, you owe it to yourself to get some of Forrest Mims' books. The "atari punk console" is based on a Mims circuit.

I've recently purchased the following:
  • Forrest Mims Engineer's Notebook - this is a reprint of an old title that used to be available at Radio Shack. Mine is yellowed (and has a yellow cover) and has been through a lot. More than one page either has solder or solder burns on it. Indispensible.
  • The Forrest Mims Circuit Scrapbook, Vol 1 - Articles that appeared in Popular Electronics. Includes a the full article about the 3914/CMOS oscilloscope that appeared in the early 80s. And a fair number of other useful circuits.
  • Forrest Mims' circuit scrapbook II - Also brilliant. These are articles from the old Modern Electronics magazine. A bit more focus on environmental (solar etc) sensors but still a wealth of knowledge.
His mini-engineering notebooks are worthwhile too. Basically, if you're new to electronics, synthesizers, et cetera, anything "Mims" you can get your hands on is a good deal.

I recently ran across some of his older (early 70s) booklets published by Radio Shack with experiments involving transistors, early ICs. While the individual ICs might be dated, the principals still apply. And at $1 a booklet, they were a bargain!

Some of my music

I'm just about the last person to blow my own horn but here goes. Here's some of the stuff I've done in Reason, Orion, and FL-Studio.
Android's Dream

Blacet Improbability Drive (ID-2510)

I haven't modified my ID-2510 yet but some other folks over at electro-music have applied some mods. Definitely worth checking out.